The fire broke out on Tuesday 5 August at 4.15 pm in the municipality of Ribaute, in the Corbières mountains. In the space of a few hours, he covered 11,100 hectares, concerning 15 local authorities and causing the death of a woman in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, where one person is also missing according to the Prefecture. The incident has already resulted in the biggest fire of the summer in France.
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1,500 firefighters fought the flames all night long. 320 additional reinforcements are arriving on site this morning, but the fire remains very active and the weather conditions The outlook remains unfavourable this Wednesday, 6 August.
A tragic toll in terms of both human lives and material damage
The provisional figures show that ten victims : a deceased woman, a person in a life-threatening emergency, two civilians injured, and seven firefighters injured, including two people in hospital. Many of the evacuated residents have found refuge in community halls opened as a matter of urgency.
As for the equipment, 25 homes have been damaged or destroyed, 30 vehicles calcined, and 5,000 households without electricity in around twenty villages. The motorway A9 between France and Spain is closed, as well as several county roads, including the D212. The heat exchanger Lézignan-Corbières (A61) is also closed.
Villages surrounded, campsites evacuated
The flames surrounded the the village of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse Tuesday evening. At Tournissan, Fabrezan or Lagrasse, the fires spread to the gardens and came close to the houses. Two campsites to La Palme were evacuated as a precaution.
In several towns, residents tried to tackle the flames themselves, sometimes without suitable protective equipment. There were numerous displays of solidarity throughout the night. The fire also reached Roquefort-des-Corbières, but the emergency services managed to stop him from crossing the motorway.
An area made vulnerable by drought and the grubbing-up of vineyards
The Aude is placed on red alert regarding the risk of forest fires. The department is suffering from a persistent drought, exacerbated by the clearing of thousands of hectares of firebreak vineyards, which helps fires to spread rapidly.
This tragedy comes after a month of July that had already been marked by a a fire covering 2,000 hectares in the Narbonne area. Firefighters are criticising a sharp rise in the area burnt in recent years, in connection with the global warming and the transformation of landscapes.